The Walking Dead Season 8 Key Art Released

07/19/2017 12:13 pm EDT

In preparation for the release of The Walking Dead's Season 8 trailer, AMC has brand new key art in promotion of the upcoming batch of episodes.

The new art, shown in a photo taken at the San Diego airport below, along with a batch of Season 8 photos in the gallery below, sees Rick and Negan at the forefront, having themselves an intense staredown. Filling out the art are the key characters who have survived the series long enough to march into the All Out War storyline. Among them: Michonne, Carol, Caryl, Jesus, King Ezekiel (and his loyal tiger, Shiva), Tara, Father Gabriel and Aaron. Of course, the art comes along featuring some of Negan's army, as well, such as Dwight, Simon, and newcomer-to-the-Saviors Eugene.

The key art is only the beginning of The Walking Dead's Season 8 promotional push. On Friday, the AMC series will take over Hall H of the San Diego Convention Center, where it will play host to over 6,000 fans to debut the first look at the upcoming batch of episodes.

To date, The Walking Dead has aired 99 episodes. The Season 8 premiere, which is set for an October broadcast, will be the 100th overall episode -- a milestone which showrunner Scott Gimple is particularly proud of.

"Episode 801, the first episode of Season 8, is going to be the 100th episode," Gimple said. "The first episode is, I think less about that we reached 100 episodes. It's more about setting up the next 100."

With episode 100 will come the start of some major differences within the series. A common complaint from fans regarding the show's seventh season was that the AMC series slowed down its story in favor of extending the Negan storyline and delaying the inevitable war ahead. Season 8 sounds like it will jump right in.

"The turn of the story is really going to dictate the structure of the story and the speed of the story," Gimple said. "The things that they are getting into demand a more kinetic narrative. The pace is accelerated by virtue of the things that they're up to. Though I don't want to say exactly, anybody who watches the show can extrapolate that they're now into public conflict with the Saviors; the battle lines are drawn. There isn't quite as much time to dig into anything but prosecuting the war.

MORE WALKING DEAD: Why Morgan Is Next Season 1 Character To Die / AMC Releases Statement On John Bernecker's Death / The Walking Dead Music Being Released / FearTWD Wraps Production On Season 3 / The Walking Dead Halts Season 8 Production

Fear the Walking Dead returns September 10. The Walking Dead will return for its eighth season in October with a trailer coming in July at San Diego Comic Con. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.

Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.